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Global Marketing News – 17th June 2015
Online marketplaces will rule global ecommerce by 2020
Online marketplaces such as Ebay, Amazon and Alibaba are expected to account for 40% of the global ecommerce market in 2020.
In some countries, marketplaces already account for this proportion of the ecommerce industry, or more.
Alibaba and Jingdong Mall currently account for 80% of ecommerce sales in China; in Germany, Amazon and Otto account for 55%; in Poland, Allegro takes 50%; and in Japan, Amazon and Rakuten Ichiba account for 40%.
In most other countries, marketplaces currently account for around 25% of ecommerce sales.
Their rise to 40% is expected to come from their increasing dominance in the big data and IT industries.
Smaller retailers are expected to adapt to the change by increasingly using these marketplaces to sell their products overseas.
Qihoo releases smartphone costing 399 Yuan (£41, $63)
Qihoo 360 has just released a new smartphone that costs just 399 Yuan, equivalent to just £41 or $63.
The phone is for sale online and was produced by Qihoo 360 in partnership with Coolpad, a major Chinese internet security company.
The smartphone is targeting the low-end segment of China’s booming smartphone market and has a 5 inch screen, 8 megapixel camera and quad-core processor.
Qihoo is facing stiff competition for more established Chinese mobile manufacturers, however, with Lenovo and Xiaomi both having recently released smartphones worth just 500 Yuan, equivalent to £52.
Qihoo is a popular Chinese tech company, most well-known for its internet security software, which has around 95% penetration in China.
Over 70% of Scandinavians to buy online this year
Research by E-Marketer has predicted that over 70% of Scandinavian internet-users will buy online this year.
81% of internet users in Denmark, 78% in Sweden and Norway, and 73% in Finland are expected to buy online using a computer, mobile or tablet this year.
Danes and Norwegians are the most frequent online shoppers, while Fins are expected to shop online least frequently. 36% of people in Denmark and Norway engage in ecommerce several times a month, compared to 29% in Sweden and just 14% in Finland.
The most commonly bought categories in all 4 countries are travel, tickets and clothing items.
The study found that the top reason for shopping online was the comfort of shopping from home. The ease of price comparison, the time saving element and the cheaper prices were also important reasons, although price was more of a concern in Denmark and Norway.
India joins Amazon’s Global Selling program
Amazon has extended its Global Selling program to include Indian manufacturers.
Indian businesses will now be able to sell their products internationally by having them listed on Amazon’s .com and co.uk websites.
Indian furniture, books, clothes, shoes, jewellery, bags, and health and beauty products will be covered by the program.
Amazon has commented on the program, saying: “Our global selling program in India is meant to assist Indian manufacturers and businesses in growing their business by leveraging the state of the art technology of Amazon, its world class logistics infrastructure and its customer service expertise”.
Line Music launches in Japan
And finally, Line has launched a music-streaming app called Line Music in Japan.
Line is a technology company best known for its popular social messaging app Line in Japan, a country where the digital music market is relatively undeveloped, with 80% of music sales being on CDs.
The Line Music app currently has around 1.5 million songs in its library, with this number expected to climb to 30 million by the end of the year.
The app, which is available on both iOS and Android, is free for the first 2 months, after which users will be able to choose to buy a 20 hour capped streaming plan for around 5 US dollars per month, or an unlimited option for 10 US dollars per month.
The Line Music app is only available in Japan, although Line’s recently acquisition of MixRadio suggests that the company is developing an alternative music streaming app for the international market.
Webcertain’s global marketing news bulletins are daily 5-minute videos, providing marketers with the latest international digital marketing news in an easy-to-digest format.
Cal O'Connell
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